The System of Tainted Grail

Tainted Grail: Song of a Dying World is the tabletop RPG adaptation of the acclaimed board game Tainted Grail.

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This article is the third in a series designed to introduce you to the game and its specifics.

Read previous articles: 

• Introduction to Tainted Grail by Studio Agate
• Tainted Grail and the Arthurian Legends
• The Background Evolution
• Board game links

The System

The Tainted Grail role-playing game is based on the Story Arc System, a fluid resolution system using a single ten-sided die, which gives pride of place to narrative and character interpretation.

Originally designed for the role-playing game The Shadows of Esteren, the Story Arc System has been adapted to best depict the world of Tainted Grail, and to offer an entirely new gaming experience. This variation places the player characters and their personal journey at the heart of the story, and integrates some of the major questions and issues raised by the Arthurian myth as revisited by Awaken Realms.

Based on the mechanical principles of the system, Tainted Grail integrates a range of new rules and unique game modules, enhancing immersion and bringing the island of Avalon to life.

You are a Champion

The character players embody have been chosen by fortune and are destined for a higher purpose. In-game, a player’s personal journey is approached through a new system, Ascension, which allows them to rise and reveal their true nature to the world, or on the contrary, to reject this gift and chart one’s own course. Ascension is at the heart of the Tainted Grail experience, offering each player the means to explore the intimate realities and upheavals of their character, and underscoring the heaviness of human existence and destiny in Avalon.

New World, New Challenges

Building on the founding elements of the Story Arc System, Tainted Grail offers a new way of understanding a character's psyche and intimate realities through a new Mental Health system, requiring players to exercise caution and mutual aid throughout their adventure. Despite the horrors encountered, or suffered, players are not powerless in the face of evil, and have new means at their disposal to triumph over adversity. Thanks in particular to a new skill tree and a brand-new magic system, which imposes choices on its practitioners, but also allows them to alter and amplify their spells to meet the island's many threats.

The Island of Avalon

Having returned to the mists of Wyrd following the great cataclysm of a century ago, the island has regained its autonomy. Close to its original state, Avalon is a ruthless land that invariably marks its occupants, and the system developed for the Tainted Grail role-playing game brings a whole new dimension to this mythical setting. Thanks to the Avalon Creation system, you as a player can now influence the world you live in, and help shape the narrative framework of your future campaign. Your actions will change the course of history and determine the face of Avalon, allowing you to take part in a unique game environment shaped by your choices and desires. But this world is nothing like the welcoming paradise once prophesied by the soothsayers! It's the domain of the Wyrd, a strange, corrupting magical phenomenon, which also has its own rules: your wanderings around the island must always take place away from the treacherous fog, otherwise you'll be exposed to its terrible effects and sink into insanity. Exposed to its threat, each expedition will require meticulous planning, made possible by an all-new travel system that requires constant risk-taking and resource management.

These new rules modules - and many others detailed in the book - will give a unique flavor to your games, and allow you to experience a memorable epic in the heart of the mists. The guardians of Avalon have finally come together, ready to fight the battle that will determine the fate of their people and of humanity as a whole!